After having read some rumblings going on about the new Paul Buff monolight system on other forums, I'm noticing that it's being a little overshadowed with discussion by the new CyberSync (which is partly to do with the two new products being placed on the same press report). I'd really like to hear a bit more from Paul about what these lights will entail. Here's what we have so far from the Buff forums:

"Finally, The Einstein. It’s premature for me to tell you much about this other than Einstein is a totally new product line – 500WS and 1000WS monolights that are completely digital and which have features, ranges and accuracies not seen in any other lighting system at any price. And, yes, Einstein will be priced in the PCB tradition, not according to what the market will bear."

Also:

"Einstein uses IGBT devices to shut off the flash current - similar to a TTL speedlight. But the power is much higher. Until recently there weren't cost effective devices that could do this."

I know it's been designed and is a done deal, and I'm sure this is a nicely refined unit that Paul will be bringing us. But here's what I'm hoping for in terms of additions to the already great WL X series:

Audible recycle beep.
New, heavy duty modifier attachment design that's more set-worthy.
Built-in, detachable glass cover protector for the strobe/model light.
More accuracy with the magenta/green hughes of white balance.
Professional looking design (all black is fine by me).
Quick recycle time of under 2 seconds for the 1000 w/s unit.
Simple on-off of modeling light. Even 250 watts isn't enough power to utilize a dimmer. Put that money to use elsewhere.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to these new lights. My above speculations are just that, but I would like to know if any of these additions will be implemented into the design of the Einstein, or if we can get a bit more details of the Einstein design.

There is a post on his forum that lists everything he has said about the einsteins thus far. One new thing that popped up is that the 500ws are being designed to be able to run off C batteries but that part is still in testing, would be cool though.

I just am wanting some heavier duty softbox connectors, I have the Huge softbox and it feels a little flimsy on the WL "ring".

Now paul if you could make a speed ring that would fit my Profoto softboxes that would rock. I like your softboxes because of the way they are "foldable" but I cant use them on my profoto packs and heads.

Any chance of getting the W/S higher? I have the WL1600's and well when i shoot large teams I am lacking power (which is why i went to pack and heads).

vidoprof wrote:
I just am wanting some heavier duty softbox connectors, I have the Huge softbox and it feels a little flimsy on the WL "ring".

Now paul if you could make a speed ring that would fit my Profoto softboxes that would rock. I like your softboxes because of the way they are "foldable" but I cant use them on my profoto packs and heads.

Any chance of getting the W/S higher? I have the WL1600's and well when i shoot large teams I am lacking power (which is why i went to pack and heads).

I know I am asking for alot

Ryan

Paul C Buff makes the Zeus pack system. I just bought one. 2500 ws pack with 2500 ws standard head, 2500 ws ringlight (power is 1250 ws each when used on the same pack). He also makes a bi-tube head that can output 5000 ws.

It looks like the adaptor ring part of this would fit into the speedring on the foldable softbox that PCB sells.
I have two of the big boxes and two of the strip boxes and love them. They are so much easier than the SBs that require assembly.

1) Recycle time to full for the 1000ws unit
2) flash duration (t.5 and t.1 please!)

For reference, the Elinchrom 600RX units are 1.3 sec full recycle and a t.5 of 1/2050th
The old 1000R units were badass, I don't remember recycle, but t.5 of 1/4000th. I'm pretty sure they had to use some sorta radioactive element or something to make that even feasible.

We don't have final data quite yet. !000WS design criteria are 2 seconds cycle to 1024WS and t.5 in the 1/2000 range. Recycle for the 512WS version should be 1 second with a faster t.5.

The standard 3:1 t.5 vs t.1 comparison applies only at Full Power. As you reduce power the t.1 quickly falls and the relationship changes. So we will rate and display t.1 times, which can be as fast as 1/10,000 second at lower power settings. I will publish a paper of time VS power as soon as we have this data.

BTW, Zeus 1250WS recycles in one second and achieves 1/3000 t.5 at 1250WS with bi tube head.

PShizzy wrote:
yes, but 1/2000th with the 2500WS pack and Bi-tube would work better for me

thanks for the answers Paul.

Max

This is close to what you get with 2500WS and bi tube (t.5). But it make a heck of a noise - I mean like a rifle shot. With 5000WS bi tube it's still faster than 1/1000 t.5 and downright scary when it fires.

Oh I know. I got the info from your specs page. The sound won't bother me, I'm from NY. Gunfire's like a lullaby to me. Plus I used to own some old Norman packs. I'm pretty sure every time I fired I was taking in some gamma rays or something cause even when I closed my eyes, I could see through my eyelids. But it pumped out 2000ws.

5000ws huh. That would be fun to try out. Might have to tell the hs teams to start wearing shades during the game.

This just gave me a wonderful idea... the new lights should have modifier mounts that are compatible with profoto... It would absolutely kill the "profoto snobs" by allowing the inexpensive new AB modifiers to fit on their beloved lights, and kill the argument that the einsteins dont have enough of a modifier line. You'll just have to pay more than the cost of the whole einstein for a simple reflector. =o)

rfffffff,
Have you used profoto? I honestly don't see the need for the "profoto snob" attempt at humor. Without going into details here, I can assure you that Profoto tools are simply in another league. Ofcourse AB/WL is great gear without any doubt. I have used it with great results, but now shoot profoto, and it's not because I like spending loads of cash or prefer are certain label on my packs. They could say Fisher Price for all I care, if they do the trick. And for my work, nothing offers what Profoto does. Just something to think about.

316shooter wrote:
rfffffff,
Have you used profoto? I honestly don't see the need for the "profoto snob" attempt at humor. Without going into details here, I can assure you that Profoto tools are simply in another league. Ofcourse AB/WL is great gear without any doubt. I have used it with great results, but now shoot profoto, and it's not because I like spending loads of cash or prefer are certain label on my packs. They could say Fisher Price for all I care, if they do the trick. And for my work, nothing offers what Profoto does. Just something to think about.

316shooter wrote:
rfffffff,
Have you used profoto? I honestly don't see the need for the "profoto snob" attempt at humor. Without going into details here, I can assure you that Profoto tools are simply in another league. Ofcourse AB/WL is great gear without any doubt. I have used it with great results, but now shoot profoto, and it's not because I like spending loads of cash or prefer are certain label on my packs. They could say Fisher Price for all I care, if they do the trick. And for my work, nothing offers what Profoto does. Just something to think about.

Cheers

The same goes with Broncolor packs, especially the Grafit. Most people won't get it until they use a much better system to see the difference in quality.